Ticketed Travel on the P-Card

Procedures for Purchase of Air, Bus, and Rail Travel

Departments are encouraged to use the University P-Card program to purchase air, bus, or rail travel either on the Internet or from travel agencies that accept MasterCard. The Merchant Category Codes of selected P-Cards within the departments have been changed to allow for the purchase and payment of travel. Department personnel must follow the current University P-Card program policy and guidelines, as well as University Business and Financial Policies and Procedures. Functional roles (i.e., cardholder, reconciler, approver, and manager) remain the same.

We recommend that each department designate two to three employees within their unit to be responsible for booking all air, bus, and rail travel. Using the P-Card process, a unit's default account will be charged directly for the expenses of the travel or another account may be specified upon reconciliation. The vendor will submit detailed travel transactions to MasterCard. In return, MasterCard will provide the University with descriptive detail of all travel purchased.

Departments must establish appropriate internal controls to reconcile travel purchased with the P-Card to the employee's travel voucher.

Instructions for reconciling a transaction.

Procedures:

Establishing Contact Personnel:

  • The department card manager or department business manager must submit an e-mail to the Corporate Card Office and include the following information for the individuals authorized to purchase travel for the unit:

    • Department Name

    • Campus/College/Department Code

    • Selected Staff Member's Name(s)

    • Phone and e-mail address of the selected staff members

Purchasing Travel using the P-Card:

  • The authorized cardholder will book all travel for the department either through a travel agency, over the Internet, or directly from the air, bus, or rail carrier.

  • Accommodations for commercial air travel should be purchased at the lowest available commercial discount airfare, federal government contract airfare (where authorized), or standard (coach or equivalent) airfare. For further regulations, please refer to Section 15.3 of the University's Business and Financial Policies and Procedures or contact your campus travel office.

Documentation Required for Completion of Travel Transaction:

Travel Agency (Ticketed or Ticketless)

  • The travel agent will issue the ticket or itinerary (Ticketless Travel) to the department contact for delivery to the traveler.

  • The department contact will annotate the P-Card transaction number on a copy of the ticket or itinerary and file the copy within the department until travel is complete.

  • Upon return of traveler, the department contact will pull the itinerary or ticket copy from the file and attach to the travel voucher.

  • The department contact will indicate the P-Card transaction number and the amount of the prepaid travel on the travel voucher form.

Internet Purchases (Ticketless)

  • The itinerary, along with confirmation number, is printed at the time the travel is booked on-line by the department contact.

  • The department contact will annotate the P-Card transaction number on a copy of the itinerary and file the copy within the department until travel is complete.

  • Upon return of traveler, the department contact will pull the itinerary copy from the file and attach to the travel voucher.

  • The department contact will indicate the P-Card transaction number and the amount of the prepaid travel on the travel voucher form.

Reconciliation of Prepaid Travel to Employee Travel Voucher:

  • The itinerary, along with confirmation number, is printed at the time the travel is booked on-line by the department contact.

  • The department contact will annotate the P-Card transaction number on a copy of the itinerary and file the copy within the department until travel is complete.

  • Upon return of traveler, the department contact will pull the itinerary copy from the file and attach to the travel voucher.

  • The department contact will indicate the P-Card transaction number and the amount of the prepaid travel on the travel voucher form.

Last Updated: July 29, 2005